ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
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ew Grasso APF Moratorium Bill Passes with Amendments
Councilman Grasso's new APF moratorium legislation,
Bill 15-18, which sought to permanently enshrine the 95 percent capacity threshold into law while changing the current binary open/closed school chart into a rolling chart, was heavily amended due to MBIA advocacy but ultimately passed on May 21st. The bill, as amended, sunsets on January 1, 2020 and will go into effect on September 1st. The legislation exempts the first five dwelling units from the APF schools test and brings the High School Test up from 95 percent capacity back to 100 percent The MBIA appreciated these amendments but remained opposed to the legislation as it does not comprehensively deal with challenges related to school capacity and changing demographics countywide.
County Executive Bill
Citing growing concern over development in the County, County Executive Steve Schuh introduced a series of development related bills and resolutions over the past six months.
Bill 17-18, creates a moratorium on rezonings until the introduction of the next General Development Plan ordinance.
Bill 19-18 and
Bill 23-18, change the requirements for public notice of property owners from 175 feet to 300 feet from the subject property for administrative hearings and community meetings, respectively. Responding to significant community concerns over the lack of "small area plans" in the most recent General Development Plan,
Bill 21-18 requires no less than seven small area plans in future General Development Plans.
Bill 27-18 requires mailed notification to neighboring property owners before the Planning and Zoning Officer may approve of any modification and bans modifications of community meeting standards.
Bill 28-18 alters the standards for time extensions for various parts of the development review process. Specifically, the bill allows extensions for up to 360 days without a modification but requires a modification for subsequent time extensions. All of these bills passed.
Rezoning Limitation Legislation FAILS
Councilman Grasso's anti-business bill,
Bill 35-18, which limits rezonings of residential property to the next most intensive zoning district, failed by a vote of 6-1 on May 21st. The MBIA opposed this legislation.
Read MBIA's testimony >>>
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BALTIMORE CITY
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City Set to Increase Transfer and Recordation Tax by 40 Percent
Councilman John Bullock, along with the entire City Council as co-sponsors, has introduced
Bill 18-0221
. The bill raises the transfer tax by .6 percent and the recordation tax by .4 percent for a total of 1 percent on all commercial transactions while exempting owner-occupied residential transfers. This takes Baltimore City's total transfer and recordation tax to 4 percent which is 1.5 percent more than any other jurisdiction in the State. Money raised by this new tax will go to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund created by Baltimore City voters in 2016. While MBIA supports adding funds to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, it does not support an additional tax on business transactions. At this time, no hearing or further action has occurred as the MBIA has actively lobbied the Mayor, City Council President and Members of the City Council to consider alternative approaches to funding affordable housing.
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CHARLES COUNTY
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Commissioners Adopt Fiscal 2019 Budget with No Tax Rate Increase
The Charles County Commissioners adopted a balanced General Fund budget of $404,659,200 for fiscal 2019, an increase of 3.4 percent from the previous year. One of the budget highlights is $457.5 million allocated for the five-year capital improvement program (fiscal years 2019-23) to pay for enhanced school security, construction of a new school, upgrading the county's 9-1-1 system and investments in new or improved assets including roads, parks, water and sewer infrastructure, and other public facilities.
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HOWARD COUNTY
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Stringent Landlord/Tenant Oversight Bill Introduced
Council Chair Mary Kay Sigaty has introduced Council Bill 20 placing stringent new regulations on landlord/tenant relationships including additional disclosures, limitations on what can be in included as rent, limitations on ratio utility billing and provides new ways for a tenant to cancel a lease. The MBIA is opposed to this legislation and is working with the Maryland Multi-Housing Association to kill or improve the bill. To date, the legislation has been heavily amended to remove the bill's most offensive provisions but practical challenges to implementation and enforcement of the bill remain. The MBIA continues to express opposition.
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MONTGOMERY COUNTY
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Montgomery County Council approves $5.6 billion operating budget and $4.5 billion six-year capital budget
On May 24th, the County Council approved the County's $5.6 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Operating Budget, the FY19 Capital Budget and the FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program (CIP). The Council approved a $4.5 billion FY19-24 CIP to fund school construction, infrastructure improvements and community projects.
The budget reflects a property tax rate of 98.14 cents per $100 of assessed value, which is 1.98 cents below the current rate. The annual bill for the average homeowner will increase by $27; however the budget also includes a property tax credit of $692 for homeowners whose properties are their primary residences. Additionally, the Council allocated $63.8 million to fund the Housing Initiative Fund (HIF). The HIF is used to provide and maintain affordable housing across the County; it also plays a prominent role in the MPDU re-write the Council is working on.
The budgets will go into effect on July 1. The Council's final budget resolutions can be viewed
here
. The complete list of items approved on the Council's budget reconciliation list can be found
here
. The list of Council community grants can be found
here
.
Montgomery County Council to Hold Public Hearing on Expedited Bill 16-18
On June 12th at 1:30 p.m., the Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing on Expedited Bill 16-18, Taxation - Transportation Mitigation Payment - Credit. Introduced by Councilmember Floreen, this bill would authorize the Director of Finance to refund a transportation mitigation payment, or give the property owner a credit against the development impact tax for transportation due for the development, in the amount of any transportation mitigation payment made for the same development prior to March 1, 2017.
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PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY
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County Council Adopts $4.09 Billion FY 19 Budget
The Prince George's County Council adopted a $4.09 billion balanced County Budget for Fiscal Year 2019 The newly-adopted spending plan also restores recession-related funding cuts to the Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) budget to support road and sidewalk repair
Utilities for Construction within the Roadway
The County Council presented CB-17-2018; a bill concerns utilities for construction within the roadway. This bill provides for the regulation of utility permits including submittal and approval of plans, the inspection of plans and notice.
Noise Control Bill
The County Council presented CB-18-2018, a bill that would sets maximum allowable noise levels and specific maximum allowable noise levels for construction. The bill also provides for temporary and general waivers from the law.
Sidewalks Bill
The County Council presented CB-19-2018, a bill for the purpose of keeping sidewalks and hiker-biker trails open during construction.
Special Exceptions - Procedural Requirements - Class 3 Fill Uses
The County Council presented CB-20-2018, a bill that would require owners or applicants for Class III Fill Special Exceptions to file applications or other required documents at least one (1) year prior to permit renewal for the use.
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ST MARY'S COUNTY
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Metropolitan Planning Organization Seeks Public Comment on Draft Documents
The Calvert - St. Mary's Metropolitan Planning Organization has published a draft of the FY 2019 Unified Planning Work Program, a data-sharing agreement for Performance Based Planning and Programming and the TIP amendment request from MTA. The UPWP contains all the planning projects the C-SMMPO has budgeted for the next fiscal year.
The UPWP, the PBPP and TIP amendment are available for review and public comment, consistent with the Organization's Public Participation Program. These documents will be presented to the Council for approval at the June 14, 2018 meeting. The documents are available for review by the public at the St. Mary's County Department of Land Use and Growth Management Office located at 23150 Leonard Hall Drive, Leonardtown, MD 20650 or online at
calvert-stmarysmpo.com
. To provide input or for more information please contact Vanessa Price, MPO Planner, at 301-475-4200 ext.1505, via email to
vanessa.price@stmarysmd.com
, via fax to 301-475-4635 or by mail to 23150 Leonard Hall Drive, PO Box 653, Leonardtown, MD 20650. Public comment will be accepted from May 25, 2018 through June 13, 2018.
Board of County Commissioners approves FY 19 Budget
The St. Mary's County Board of County Commissioners in a 4-1 vote, adopted a $230 million dollar budget for Fiscal Year 2019. Commissioner Mike Hewitt was the only Commissioner that voted against the county budget. The figure represents a 4 percent increase over fiscal 2018.
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WICOMICO COUNTY
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Wicomico County Passes Bill No. 2018-04
Wicomico County Council has passed an Act to add Chapter 30, titled "Clean Energy Loan Program" to the Wicomico County Code to establish a Clean Energy Loan Program for commercial Property owners. The bill provides qualifying criteria; establishes a calculation for the clean energy loan surcharge; provides for a recorded agreement and certain notice; provides for the collection of loan payments; establishes default procedures; provides for financing of a loan under the Program; defines certain terms; and generally relates to the Clean Energy Loan Program.
Wicomico County Introduces Bill No. 2018-05
Wicomico County has proposed a $151,393,421 million operating budget for fiscal 2019. No increases are planned for either real or personal property tax rates. The FY2019 estimated recurring revenue has increased by 5.5% over last year's budget. A public hearing on the budget was held on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. Several suggestions were made to enhance the education portion of the budget. A final vote on Bill No. 2018-05 will be held on June 5, 2018.
Wicomico County Council Proposed Two Charter Amendments
Wicomico County Council has proposed the following two amendments to the Wicomico County Charter: (1) having the initial appointments of deputy directors and the assistant director of administration confirmed by Council and (2) adding a provision that transfers of depreciable capital assets between departments, agencies, or offices can only be done with the recommendation of the Executive and approval by the County Council by resolution. A hearing on the proposed Charter Amendments will be held on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 6 pm at the Government Office Building.
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WORCESTER COUNTY
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Worcester County Solves FY 2019 Budget Shortfall
Worcester County's budget committee of County Administrator Harold Higgins, Budget Manager Kathy Whited, and Treasurer Phil Thompson presented the county commissioners with a $190 million budget that covers a $9 million shortfall, increases wages for county employees and doesn't raise property taxes. In order to meet this budget, commissioners endorsed the end to certain services provided at the Isle of Wight office, which is shared by the health, development review and permitting, environmental programs and treasurer divisions. The commissioners agreed to end the services of all but the health and treasurer's departments starting with the next fiscal year. This is a real problem for contractors as they will now have to drive to Snow Hill (2 hour round trip) for development review and permitting. The Eastern Shore Builders lobbied very hard to keep development review and permitting at the Isle of Wight office, but were unsuccessful.
Ocean City Council Passes FY 2019 Budget
The Ocean City Council adopted its fiscal year 2019 operating budget totaling $129 million. The budget includes just over $85 million for the general fund. The fiscal 2019 tax rates are set at .4656 per $100 of assessed value of real property and $1.29 per $100 of assessed value of corporate and personal property.
Worcester County Commissioners Approve Equivalent dwelling units for Sun Communities
The Worcester County Commissioners approved the 34 equivalent dwelling units of water and sewer capacity requested by Sun Communities for Frontier Town, for the first phase of its expansion. As a result, the case pending in circuit court to appeal the decision was dismissed.
Local Election
Snow Hill Mayor Charlie Dorman was reelected to a fourth term over challenger Brian Gilliland.
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OTHER INDUSTRY NEWS
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Fuel Gas Code Approved
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission has approved its 2018 WSSC Plumbing and Fuel Gas Code by adopting the 2018 International Plumbing and Fuel Gas Codes and by amending or relocating subsections of its existing 2015 WSSC Plumbing and Fuel Gas Code and adding new subsections. Vew the changes >>>
EPA gave notice re. MS4 Permit
- EPA gave notice of the final NPDES Phase I permit to District of Columbia on May 23 for discharge from its Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4)
- EPA's proposed MS4 permit will replace the District's 2011 permit, which was modified in 2012 and was scheduled to expire on Oct. 7, 2016. The proposed permit retains many of the provisions of the 2011 permit, but also proposes a number of new enforceable milestones and adaptive management benchmarks that may make new development efforts in the District more complex and costly. The Fact Sheet contains an explanation for proposed permit provisions, especially those that have changed since the prior permit. Click here for the documents.
- The permit documents (Final Permit, Fact Sheet, Responsiveness Summary, and Administrative Record Index) are available on the EPA website.
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ACRONYM GLOSSARY
Acronyms are often used as time saving, shorthand ways to communicate lengthy titles or basic concepts. This glossary provides a quick reference to the terms, acronyms and abbreviations commonly used in this industry.
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Maryland Building
Industry Association
11825 West Market Place
Fulton, MD 20759
301-776-MBIA (6242)
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Chief Executive Officer
Manager, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs
Vice President,
Government Affairs
Erin Bradley
Vice President,
Government Affairs
Vice President,
Government Affairs
Building Codes Consultant
Vice President,
Government Affairs
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